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Letters to the Editor

Between a rock and a hard place with guns

By Doug Ward

Posted:
02/18/2013 01:00:00 AM MST

The gun debate got me thinking about the merits of the proposals ranging from restrictions on gun sales, gun registration and background checks for gun purchases to arming more citizens. I decided to try to come to some conclusions based on personal observations.

When I got my first car, automobiles got terrible gas mileage, spewed pollution and were notoriously dangerous in accidents. During the same time period, industrial sites were often toxic wastelands and dangerous places to work, the Hudson and other rivers were polluted and sterile, and there was the famous burning Cuyahoga River incident. In the last few decades the government has legislated sweeping pollution, energy efficiency and safety standards. Though maybe not optimal, and in some cases possibly overreaching, these regulations have stimulated improvements that all but the most ardent anti-government citizens agree have made our lives healthier and safer. So it seems to me that when problems can be quantified, technology and science solutions identified, and results measured, government involvement can work to our benefit.

On the other hand, attempts to use legislation and government bureaucracy to socially engineer human behaviors -- that are often driven by passions, addictions, greed, ignorance and fear -- have seldom produced the desired results and, in many cases, made the situation worse. Among the examples of failed governmental interdictions: Prohibition, the War on Drugs, laws to prevent underage drinking, prostitution, promoting homeownership and tearing down the Chicago tenements, to name just a few. In fact, in many of these examples government involvement has done little more than create huge profit opportunities for sophisticated criminal enterprises or near-criminal enterprises masquerading as legitimate businesses.

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As for arming more citizens with the hope that would prevent more gun violence, I have some personal and painful perspectives on that. Years ago I was sitting just inches from a friend who was shot in the head at point-blank range. For days his life hung in the balance, though over time he made a remarkable recovery given the nature of his wounds. I was a gun owner with experience target shooting and hunting. But even if I had been armed I could not have prevented the tragedy. On the other hand, in those adrenalin-fueled moments of terror watching the young man walking away, if I had been armed I might well have shot the shooter or maybe bystanders. I heard a few years later that the young man was making something positive of his life.

A few years ago we were driving to Denver on U.S. 36 through Westminster. Off the side of the road were six or eight police officers circled around and pointing their guns at a man holding a gun. Just as we approached the scene, numerous shots were fired and we saw the man fall. I read in the paper the next morning that when officers realized they were shooting straight across at fellow officers only a few feet away, as well as shooting toward cars on the road where we were driving, several offices were so shaken they could not drive. I understand the military calls incidents like these involving inexperienced troops something like "first engagement fog of war."

Not too long ago we were in Vietnam having dinner with our young guide. He told us his father had been in the government of South Vietnam, and they had tried to leave when Saigon fell. When they failed to get away, his father was sent to a reeducation camp and then worked in the government rebuilding the country. I asked about the rest of his aunts and uncles. He said, "Most of them died at My Lai."

The military and police have long known that even well-trained and seasoned soldiers and officers are often capable of doing irrational and dangerous things under threat or when bullets are flying. I'm fearful it is only a matter of time before some well-meaning armed citizen loses control in a violent situation and causes the deaths of innocent people. Gun rights activists should fear that more than legislation or shootings by the mentally disturbed or criminals.

There is something amuck in the societal DNA of Americans that marginalizes life way out of proportion to other advanced societies. I don't know what the answer to gun violence is, but I'm skeptical that either of the extremes of currently proposed legislation or arming more citizens will have any real impact, and could possibly make the situation more dangerous.

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